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I practice my jo strikes on this dead tree when I walk in the mornings. My tree is helping me develop power. I can tell when I hit with my whole body and when I just use my arms. It feels definitely better when I use my whole body. When I hit with just my arms…the tree wins. ;o) My arms absorb the shock and my hands vibrate with pain. When I use my whole body I don't feel anything but connectedness. With a dead tree…how about that?

very cool, mary. amazing what these 'inanimate' things can teach us. totally agree with the sensation of a bad strike... travelling up the weapon, into the hands and arms, like an electric shock.
i remember reading about terry dobson going home and practicing shiho nage on a tree branch. if you move correctly, you can bend the tree's 'arm' back and complete tehcnque. if you're too strong, the limb can break. i guess in that case, dead tree loses...?

Interesting... Thank you for sharing that. I love training with the jo, but only recently got a glimpse of what you described. We were all trying to work out a technique in class, hitting sticks together, but when Sensei came to demonstrate it, with me as uke, all I felt was the connection, no "smack" at all. It's amazing that two ways of hitting wood against wood could feel so completely different. It's nice to hear of that same kind of feeling described in another way.